str2num and num2str functions in Fortran

Remember those handy functions from MATLAB str2num() and num2str() that convert strings to numbers and vice-versa? They come in handy from time to time.

Well, Fortran is quite capable of the same functionality, just not in that explicit way.

It's simple really: you may use write() statement to write some data into a variable, or read() statement to read it from one.

For example, if I'd like to convert my REAL :: num into a string CHARACTER(LEN=15) :: str, I'd go:

write(str , *) num

This piece will convert my num to string.

On the other hand, if I need to convert a string to number, I use read() statement:

read(str , *) num

This will convert my string to number.

Format of a number will automatically be detected because of * inside read() and write() statements.

In my experience, this works pretty well. If you find any problems, let me know.